Muffed selection and a dawning superstar

Only in England can a guy score one of the all time best debut centuries, in a crucial Ashes decider, indeed an Ashes winning innings, and then not be picked for the subsequent one day series including the 1st match on the very same cricket ground, despite the fact that he was in the Twenty20 side as well, and his domestic one day record is every bit as good as his first class record, and the fact that he is a naturally aggressive batsman perfectly suited to this type of cricket, in the form of his life (to rub it in he scored 93 for county Warwickshire the very day before the ODI match). The inexplicably overlooked player I am referring to of course is the new master batsman Jonathan Trott. He must be scratching his head and wondering why he bothered coming to England if this is what the selection system is like.

To make matters even worse one of England's first choice batsmen Joe Denly went down injured the day before the game, so instead of then recalling Trott, England chose rather to pick ridiculously out of form Bopara who after his last 4 consecutive innings for England of 1,0,0,1, played a classic match-losing innings of 49 from 88 balls to bat England out of the game yesterday. Predictably England contrived to muff a simple chase, falling 4 runs short despite a valiant effort from their lower order to try and salvage the waste of Bopara and to a lesser extent Paul Collingwood.

Only in England? Nuff said.

On a brighter note, a new star was born yesterday, legspinning allround sensation Adil Rashid showed a vision of the future as he first mesmerised then bludgeoned Australia in an amazing display of 21 year old talent allied to calm temperament. Graeme Swann had better enjoy his time of glory because Rashid is destined to be the first choice spinner in all forms of the game within a year. Just as Trott looks set to be England's premier batsman and number 3. It cannot be overstated how huge this is for England and indeed world cricket. Rashid could potentially be the biggest new star since Shane Warne arrived in all his blonde bravado, and Warne was no batsman. Rashid is a true allrounder, scoring both centuries and taking 5 wicket bags in first class cricket, sometimes in the same game. The lad looks ready to set the world on fire. As long as England remember to select him...